daily dilemma

Oh, these baby birds!  I'm always so worried at this time of year about all the baby birds.  Here a baby Robin left the nest too soon.  Mommy Robin keeps going to the big evergreen tree next door to feed the rest of the babies, but this little guy is on the ground and not ready to fly.  He just still keeps opening his mouth for food, and Mommy knows because she keeps bringing it.  Had to take this picture through my bedroom window, through the screen, so it's fuzzy.  The nest must have been getting too crowded; he has all his feathers, and I am sure they were all getting bigger.  Mommy is very watchful and protective, so I am hoping he will do okay.  Fly, Baby, fly!

getting going gardening!

Yesterday, Julie came over to help me get my garden started.  We first had to get rid of the lemon balm that had taken over every bid of space and then Rob rototilled the soil.  Here she is putting in tomato plants, a pepper plant, and rows of green beans and zinnias.  Lots of rhubarb on the right; some established here and some that Angel & Dan gave me from their house.

This picture should have been first; Julie putting in the tomato plants.  One problem.  Bumblebees have moved in between the shed and the back board bordering this garden!  Rob said it'll be a wonderful garden because they will pollinate everything.  Well, we'll see if they let me pick my flowers and tomatoes.

happy day!

Yesterday, we had a fish fry (fresh frozen fish from their Canadian vacation) at Julie's house.  Yum.  They also surprised me with celebrating our wedding anniversary.  49 years!  Can't be...

A beautiful flower bouquet from Bella Fiori and goodies from the French Farmers' Market.

Missy loves company...and the smell of food cookin'.

A stroll in the yard after dinner to see the baby Robin family.  This nest is in the backyard Apple Tree.

Another in the front yard bush.  Look at that beautiful blue.  And there is another nest hidden on the side of the house in the Dogwoods.....a Cardinal nest!

Then there's baby Apples and ...

baby Pears.  We ended the time with strawberries and whipped cream.  A happy day.

what to do with leftover papers?

One more project at the end of my collage class.  Sometimes we work in matte medium and sometimes polymer medium.  The polymer papers are all coated ahead of time and you use some, and you use bits and pieces of some, and you also are left with many that are waiting their turn to be used.  They want a purpose.  So, as you see above, we layered small torn strips of those already polymered papers on a piece of coated watercolor paper (6x12), sort of in an order of maybe sky/grass/land/water/sky/grass/land/water.  Ironed them on, trimmed the edges, turned the paper over, and measured out nine little 2x4 pieces, cut them, and whatever we got - we got!

It always works out.  The little 2x4s always come out to look like some little landscape!

Use your imagination, and it's either mountains or hills or lake.

Put a little liner behind them and a little background paper and we attached them to watercolor paper folded into a card.

Nice handmade cards to use for those special people!

Final project!

My collage class is now on summer break, but I wanted to show you our last project.  I'm very proud of how they all turned out!  I got the idea from a wonderful artist http://www.reneetroyartonline.co/ , who graciously gave me permission to do this with my class.  Paper Mosaic.  We sure had fun!  My message is Blessings.  My class loves projects and themes and I love to see how each one evolves differently and separately shows each personality and style.

Harmony by Lora Lee

Joy by Bernie

Appreciation by Sandy

Sanctuary by Marge

Exuberant by MaryAnn

Wonder by Barb

Curiosity by Carolyn

Freedom by Teri

Solitude by Judy

Karma by Peggy

Outdoors by Denise

and here we are (except for Marge, who missed our photo shoot)!  Happy summer days to you!

Poetry Luncheon

Yesterday was our annual Poetry Luncheon at The Center.  After a delicious lunch, we all went out to the Chapel Garden for the poetry reading.  And what a beautiful day it was!  Here is Lois, serving goodies in the garden.

And the poets!  That's me in the back left, Lois H, MaryAnn, and Bobbie (front left), Evie, Joanne and Jane.

I forgot to take pictures inside the dining room and Great Hall, but we also had our quilts and pieces from collage class on display.  Collage class today! - so I have another chance to take pictures and I will show you those later.

We had a wonderful crowd of ladies and it seemed everyone enjoyed the day.

the gift

My daughter is an occupational therapist and her students have been writing to a lady soldier this entire school year and she writes back to them.  It was decided, now that school is almost out, that the children would each design a star block to put into a wall quilt.  Yesterday Julie came over and I helped her add the navy star borders to finish the quilt top.  The children are anxious to see it! 

Now they will each sign a piece of muslin for the backing and we will quilt it and off it will go to the soldier.  I just love this thoughtful gift!  The children can not imagine how it will look, Julie says, and they will be so proud.

and the winner is...

After the "pig pen weekend", my friend Audrey carved these darling little pigs and this one was for me.  What a trophy!  And what a momento of the experience.  What a thoughtful friend!

His curly little tail.

And it even has my name around his neck.  A very very special prize.  Thank you Audrey.

BTBW4 part three

Here, we were served breakfast fit for a queen on Mothers Day morning.  Isn't it beautiful?  A surprise, delicious as well. 

The ducks were hungry too!  Quack...quack!

Lois read us a story.  "The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs" (told by the Big Bad Wolf).

Meanwhile, everyone was hungry.

Another close-up of my plate.

Baa-baa...

and then it was time for me to go...

It was a wonderful adventure that I will never forget.

BTBW4 part two

So Dave got the beds all set up, we had a pizza party and said "good-night" to the pigs.

Took this photo in the morning, but this is how Lois Lauer, Carol, Lois Hrejsa and I slept, mostly under the stars (except it was cloudy - so no stars).  I was in heaven.  I absolutely loved going to sleep with the sounds of the chickens and ducks jibber-jabbering about their day.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

We were bundled up with our sleeping bags and soon it was morning and a beautiful "alarm clock"...

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Rise and shine!

Joan joined us in the morning...

and Chris Hopkins for morning meditation, which was so meaningful and we began our day in a beautiful way.

more to come.....